Natalie Dumas continued to solidify her place as one of the greatest track & field athletes in U.S high school history with a stunning and electrifying performance for the ages in a thrilling girls 400-meter race at the New Balance National Championships on Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
Dumas, a junior at Eastern who always races her best when it matters most, lit up the oval with a mind-blowing, jaw-dropping and heart-pounding victory, freezing the numbers on the clock at 51.14 to smash the NJ record and the meet record and win her second national title in 2 days!
Yes, you read all that right!!!
The 51.14 by Dumas obliterated the NJ record of 51.87 that she shared with the legendary Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of Union Catholic, destroyed the meet record and places her No. 6 on the U.S all-time high school list!!
The former meet record of 52.41 was set in 2023 Adaejah Hodge of Montverde Academy in Florida.
It took everything Dumas had to get the victory as she dove across the line to edge senior Sydney Sutton of Bullis (Md.) for the second straight day. Sutton was second in 51.23, No. 10 in U.S history.
Dumas had equaled McLaughlin-Levrone's state record when she ran 51.87 at the South Jersey Group 4 Championships on May 17 at Pennsauken High School.
McLaughlin-Levrone, a 4-time Olympic gold medalist and current world record holder in the 400 hurdles, ran 51.87 as a junior at the 2016 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington High School.
There are several more mind-numbing numbers and stats that further show just how amazing her performance was.
Dumas's 51.14 is the fastest by any high school girl since Kadecia Baird of Medgar Evers Prep in Brooklyn ran 51.04 in the semis of 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona.
It's fastest in a high school-only race in 25 years, since Monique Henderson of Morse High in San Diego ran 50.74 at the 2000 California State Championships in Sacramento.
Only five women from New Jersey have ever run faster on any level. They are Olympic gold medalists McLaughlin (48.74 in 2023) and Trenton's Athing Mu (49.57 in 2021). The other 3 are Mikele Barker of Montclair (50.63), her twin Me'Lisa Barber (50.87) Barber of and Olympian Nadia Davy of Bridgeton (50.66 in 2003).
The 51.14 also places Dumas No. 50 in the world this year, No. 17 among U.S. women, it's the fastest time on the world Under-20 list for this year, No. 10 all-time on the world Under-20 list and #4 on the U.S. Under-20 list, and her time would have placed her fifth at this year's NCAA Championships!!
On Friday, the indefatigable Dumas ran a meet record 55.99 to win the 400 hurdles for the second straight year, just ahead of Sutton. That moved Dumas all the way up to No. 2 in NJ history and No. 6 in U.S. high school history. It took a record performance from Dumas to defeat Sutton, who was second in 56.04, No. 8 all-time!
The 55.99 by Dumas destroyed the meet record of 58.37 that was set by Myla Greene of Bullis in 2022 and places Dumas No. 2 on the all-time U.S. high school list for juniors.
That's not all!
A couple hours later, she split 2:03.90 on the anchor to rally Eastern, from sixth to second in the sprint medley relay in 3:53.15, No. 4 in NJ history and No. 12 in U.S. history.
And there is still more to come!
Dumas is scheduled to run the 800 on Sunday!!
Can she win that also???
After what she's done the last 2 days, nothing Dumas does should surprise anyone anymore!!
